Golf club “metal woods”, were originally manufactured primarily by casting of durable metals such as stainless steel, aluminum, beryllium copper, etc. into a unitary structure comprising of a metal body, face and hosel. As technology progressed it became more desirable to strengthen the face of the club, and usually this was achieved by using a titanium material.
With a high percentage of amateur golfers constantly searching for more distance on their drives, the golf industry has responded by providing golf clubs specifically designed to increase distance. The head sizes have increased, which allows for the club to possess a higher moment of inertia, and this translates to a greater ability to resist twisting on off-center hits. As a wood head becomes larger, its center of gravity will be moved back away from the face and further toward the toe resulting in hits flying higher and to the right than expected (for right-handed golfers). Reducing the lofts of the larger head clubs can compensate for this. Also the larger heads, because the center of gravity is moved further away from hosel axis, can cause these clubs to remain open on contact, thereby inducing a “slice” effect (in the case of a right-handed golfer the ball deviates to the right). Offsetting the head and incorporating a hook face angle can help compensate for this by “squaring” the face at impact, but often more is required to eliminate the “slice” tendency. The present invention provides such a solution.
Another technological breakthrough in recent years towards providing the average golfer with more distance is to make larger head clubs, while keeping the weight constant or even lighter, by casting consistently thinner shell thickness and going to lighter materials such as titanium, magnesium and composites. Also the faces of the clubs have been steadily becoming extremely thin, wherein the thinner face will maximize what is known as the COR (Coefficient of Restitution). The more a face rebounds upon impact, the more energy that may be imparted to the ball, thereby increasing distance.
The prior art teaches methods to enhance the weight distribution of metal woods to help reduce the club from being open on contact with the ball. Usually, this is accomplished by the addition of weights to the body casting itself or strategically adding a weight element at some point in the club. Many efforts have been made to incorporate weight elements into the metal wood head. They are usually placed at specific locations, which will have a positive influence on the flight of the ball or to overcome a particular golfer's shortcomings. As previously stated, a major problem area of the higher handicap golfer is the tendency to “slice” which besides deviating the ball to the right, also imparts a greater spin to the ball which reduces overall distance. To reduce this tendency, the present patent teaches the placing of weight elements directly into the club head. The placement of weight elements is designed so that the spin of the ball will be reduced, and also a “draw” (a right to left ball flight for a right-handed golfer) will be facilitated into the ball flight. This ball flight pattern is also designed to help the distance challenged golfer because a lower spinning ball will generally roll a greater distance after hitting the ground than it would roll with a higher spin. The present invention provides such a golf club.